Herald of the Night

by Commentaholic

Chapter Five: Forests and Ruins

Herald of the Night

Chapter Five: Forests and Ruins

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In the dark shadows of the Everfree Forest, predators lurked in the gloom. Luminous plants peeked out from between the roots of the ever-entwining trees, which were gnarled and almost seemed to reach out for any unwary trespassers. Namely: Ponies.

There was a reason the Everfree had the reputation it did.

Well, two reasons, really. The first was because it was downright dangerous. Poisonous plants, murderous creatures and violent... well... everything. It was a death trap, mutated and warped by the fearsome magics of Discord from a bygone era. Tall, welcoming trees offering cool shade from a long, sunny day became fearsome, grappling branches emanating dark shadows that swallowed up all that touched them.

Yet another thing the Moon had over Equestria. No dangerous, cursed places. Just.... dead... grey landscape, as well as the occasional interesting crater.

The second reason was, to discourage explorers, the rumor perpetuated by Celestia herself over a thousand years ago, that the forest was cursed. The magics of Discord pretty much made the rumor true, but that was beside the point. In order to keep the Elemental Husks safe from treasure hunters, there had to be a deterrent. And there was. A strong magical one.

And it was into this forest that Twilight Sparkle had sent herself.

A flash of light was the only sign of her arrival as she tumbled to the ground amid those darkened forest paths. All pretense of locational awareness was lost as the forest seemed to sense her presence and move in towards her. Twilight blinked and, without the same sort of delays that caused her to be discovered in the first place, began to take stock of what she had with her and what she'd already learned.

Alright. fact one: The Lunar and Equestrian Tongues seem to have developed along similar lines. I could detect no confusion in that brief conversation over what was being said. Twilight thought to herself. Understandably, really, given that both Lunar ponies and Equestrian ponies came from a common grouping a thousand years previously. It made sense that they would develop similar languages, aside from a few figures of speech that were lunar-specific.

Fact number two: I'm stranded in the middle of a dark and dangerous forest, my saddlebags are missing - presumed captured - and I've already been discovered by stellar magic in the hooves of a pony that has no magical experience. Much less a resistance to its seductive powers. True, it was still a blessing that it had been claimed by an Earth Pony instead of a unicorn who could legitimately abuse its power. The most a pony like that could do was make hefty suggestions that appealed to the inner consciousness of the pony that power was directed towards, but the sooner she could extract that power back into its shell, the better.

Twilight glanced skyward. High above the darkened eaves of the trees around her, she could see a blue sky, darkened by clouds, with a bright sphere - the sun - above it all. Its warmth failed to reach her through the Everfree leaves, but the light was still enough to see by, barely.

Rising to her hooves for what felt like - finally - a time upon which she was doing it by her own volition, Twilight lit her horn up to provide what light she needed to see her way through the underbrush. If her panicked teleportation had been accurate, she should be at least vaguely in the vicinity of the Everfree Castle: her destination.

With a sigh at so many disruptions so early, Twilight set out, hoping to find the castle and the surrounding ruins. Maybe she could take shelter there and set up camp amid those ancient buildings.

---

It was beginning to grow dark once more before the mare discovered any signs of the ancient capitol of the Royal Pony Sisters. Crumbling stone walls marked the one-time boundary of the city. Tree roots had overgrown the fallen stones. Those that had yet to fall were only forestalled in their inevitable downward motion by the tightly-knit weave of vines that clambered all over the decrepit construct.

Through the ancient arch Twilight trotted, eyes warily darting to and fro. Making sure to keep an eye out for any possible denizens of the now-destroyed city. Before her lay an abandoned city. Ancient. Overgrown. But despite all this, it was still largely intact. Many buildings held the potential for sites to make camp and to be used as a base of operations.

In the distance, there arose several tall spires. A large, ancient palace of many rooms, halls and towers that stood tall across a bridged chasm, which was spanned by a rotten, likely-to-fall-out-from-under-one's-own-hooves, rickety bridge. She made a note to avoid using that bridge if possible.

Of course, most of Twilight's possessions were now in the hooves of those Earth Ponies. She didn't have much to store or even use for an extended stay, even if these buildings turned out to be hospitable...

"Oh, is this a pony that I see, in the secret heart of the Everfree?" came a richly-accented, bemused voice. Twilight nearly leapt out of her skin, her illuminated horn sparking and going out as Twilight's hooves shot out from underneath her.

Twilight looked up to see a white, black-striped equine mare - a zebra - decorated with golden bangles and rings around one of her hooves and around her neck. Adorning the back of her head in place of a normal mane was a rigidly-standing stripe that mirrored her striped complexion. Strapped across her back - hanging above the squiggly glyph that sat where one's cutie marks would have been, had she been a pony - was a sling that was meant for the spear grasped in the zebra's hooves. Seeing Twilight's surprise and growing panic, she spoke again, "This zebra does apologise, I did not wish to prompt surprise. Zecora wishes not for your life to end. She wished to greet you as a friend. For I know of the objects that you seek, for I have awaited you for this past week."

"Wait..." Twilight asked in confusion, still edgy about that spear. "You knew I was coming... Zecora?"

Zecora nodded, "I knew that you would be coming soon, oh great Envoy of the Moon. The Prophecies have surely spoken true, so I knew to be expecting you. This zebra will aid you in your quest, and she will give her very best."

"You know why I'm here, too? What exactly did these prophecies say?" Twilight asked, running a hoof through her mane, scratching the back of her head, still puzzled.

Zecora smiled and beckoned for Twilight to follow, slinging the spear up onto her back and trotting off towards a distant plume of smoke deeper into the ruined city. "Come with me and you will see the words that brought Zecora to thee."

Twilight plodded after her, unable to stop herself due to the undying curiosity about this new, strange equine.

Author's Note:

Heh... I'm kind of proud of myself for those rhymes at the end. I so rarely get the chance to ply my craft at poetry.

Thanks to all of you who have favourited and watched me. It's really an inspiration to keep going at this ridiculous pace of updating :)

Comments

[Alpha123]

you should update this story more and make it longer